Breaking News-Proposed No Wakesurf Zones Gain Approval on Smith Mountain Lake in 2022

[morfoot]

Guess the surfing community better prepare themselves for battle as yes I agree with some of the others. I think Pandora's Box on banning surfing has been cracked open. I can honestly say I hope we see it more lakes including Lanier. I've got a 72' Mustang and an 88' SN that live on a lift on Lanier and if you wanna learn how to drive a small inboard in the Atlantic Ocean then take a mustang out in the main channel on a weekend. Roller Coasters ain't nothing compared to a 16' boat up against the wakes made by 42' yachts on a continuing basis. Surfers who refuse to stay out of of small coves where they are wrecking havoc on other boats, docks and shore lines and home owners property, have it coming with this attack on this water discipline. They have nobody to blame but themselves for these future laws coming down the pipeline. The pushback is usually... Well you shouldn't have bought waterfront property then. No! every states boating laws that I have read clearly state that the vessels operator is solely responsible for its wake. Put yourself in that persons shoes. You wouldn't want some 7500lb boat constantly throwing 5 foot waves at your dock with your boat, property, and kids swimming off the dock all day. As I've mentioned before.... I do enjoy surfing and go with my neighbors but they have enough since to do it on the main bodies of Lanier and not the small coves on the lake. Gonna be interesting to see how this plays out across the country.

[hal2814]

If you ask the homeowners, their cove is always a small cove. If you ask the surfers that same cove is never a small cove. One thing I really like about that Virginia law is that there is a standard definition of what size cove is too small: 400’. It’s takes subjectivity out of the equation. As a surfer I personally LOVE this. Now there’s no misunderstanding. What happened here doesn’t feel like a witch hunt on surfers. What happened here feels like a genuine compromise between two opposing parties’ interests. And it happened in a legally codified way so there’s no reliance on fuzzy concepts like etiquette. If this model were applied universally I’d be totally happy with that. I can’t surf in a cove that’s too small? Ok. What’s too small? 400’ Cool. How do I know it’s under 400’? You’ll have buoys to show me? Perfect. Win Win

[GMLIII]

If you ask the homeowners, their cove is always a small cove. If you ask the surfers that same cove is never a small cove. One thing I really like about that Virginia law is that there is a standard definition of what size cove is too small: 400’. It’s takes subjectivity out of the equation. As a surfer I personally LOVE this. Now there’s no misunderstanding. What happened here doesn’t feel like a witch hunt on surfers. What happened here feels like a genuine compromise between two opposing parties’ interests. And it happened in a legally codified way so there’s no reliance on fuzzy concepts like etiquette. If this model were applied universally I’d be totally happy with that. I can’t surf in a cove that’s too small? Ok. What’s too small? 400’ Cool. How do I know it’s under 400’? You’ll have buoys to show me? Perfect. Win Win

We will see how it shakes out in the long run. Been coming to Smith Mountain Lake for 54 years so I have seen it all. Although all I do now is surf for a variety of prior injuries from skiing therefore this hits me in my gut. The sad, sad consequence of this whole No Wakesurf Zones is that it has torn this lake community apart which I love like nothing I have seen in my 54 years of coming here. Just so sad , everyone is just bitching about everything. As said by many, "Keep off my lawn". Folks need to prepare because it is coming your way.

[bturner]

This will be a slippery slope for everyone including the home owners that approve these measures, it always is. First it starts with a targeted group but that gets blurred as time goes by with other boats and activities that will also be caught in the snare. As others have said wakeboarders will be next, then tubers and eventually the slalom guys as well. Basically anything that throws a wake.

I remember the wife getting pulled over for 28 in a 25 in a speed trap that was set up as a result of local residents complaining to the city about speeders in a highly traveled residential area. The wife was dumbfounded that the cop would actually pull her over for 3 over especially since it was on a downward slope of the road. The cop gave her a warning and explained that they were there as the result of complaints by the residents. He then went on to tell her not to be too upset as 80% of the people he had pull over and ticketed to were the very local residents that had requested the traffic enforcement focus. Apparently those very people that complained somehow thought they would be exempt from scrutiny since they lived there and had requested law enforcement. This will turn out much the same way as a surf wake turns into a wakeboard wake, a tuber's wake and on down the line.

[bandit628]

How do Florida lakes handle this? They are all fairly small, but it's wakeboard and wakesurf central. Is it just understood down there that large wake watersports occur daily?

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[WakingAround]

This will be a slippery slope for everyone including the home owners that approve these measures, it always is. First it starts with a targeted group but that gets blurred as time goes by with other boats and activities that will also be caught in the snare. As others have said wakeboarders will be next, then tubers and eventually the slalom guys as well. Basically anything that throws a wake. .

You my friend are a genius. I’m running for office solely on the policy of getting tubing banned globally.

[bturner]

Just got an update on the lake cop as I was planing on surfing tomorrow..... Turns out about 5 home owners are throwing in to pay to have the cop on the lake Saturdays and Sundays. He is enforcing counter clockwise boating paths on the lake as part of his focus. This means that any skiing has to go in a circle. On our small lake this pretty much pouches wakeboarding and skiing as by the time you get to the other side of the lake you'll be running into your own wake. Any north/south, east/west patterns will be first warned then ticketed. This goes for jet skis as well. Can't wait for them to add in the Kayaker's and paddle boarders too.

The only way to get around this that I can see is to ski/board/surf before he gets on the lake which is between 10 and 11. Fishermen are going to love this!

Told ya.

[hal2814]

So the slippery slope here is that lake cops are going to start actually enforcing existing laws? Seems like if they were doing this all along, nobody would need a no surfing area law in the first place.

[bturner]

The slippery slope is how the laws will be enforced and to what degree. The reality is that if a cop wants to write you a ticket believe me he'll find a reason to do so. Skiing in the wrong direction with zero boats on the lake, too fast, too close, not sitting down, improperly anchored, safety gear expired, no paddle, no throwable cushion, old life jackets, you name it. Want to put a damper on lake activity? Put a cop on the lake and have him write tickets from dawn to dusk for about 3 weekends. Was going to go riding this morning but couldn't get a crew together until 11. Cop comes out at 11 and he's been pulling over anyone not going counter clockwise on the lake, even if it's just you and him out there. No thank you, I'll ride today with a friend on another lake without a cop on the lake.

So because of these DBs everyone's afraid to go out and no one gets to ride. That's the slippery slope.

[Skidave]

We ride on a small private lake that requires counter clockwise rotation. We make straight runs and then quick hard left turns. It sucks, but we follow the rules. Oh yeah, number one rule is no watersports until 9 am.

After about 2 laps, it looks like a toilet trying to swirl and flush. We just wait a few for the next rider and it settles.

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[SilentSeven]

We ride on a small private lake that requires counter clockwise rotation. We make straight runs and then quick hard left turns. It sucks, but we follow the rules. Oh yeah, number one rule is no watersports until 9 am.

After about 2 laps, it looks like a toilet trying to swirl and flush. We just wait a few for the next rider and it settles.

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This must be a thing for small lakes. The small lake rules where we run are:

- counter clockwise path
- no boats over 19', no ballasted boats period, tourney style ski boats with direct drive up to 20 ft ok.
- skiing hours are 10am to 7pm
- no PWCs

There is ski course setup and skiers get to run the course in the AM from 8 to 10 on selected days...this is pretty cool..

If we're the only boat out, we run a dog bone pattern down the center of the lake which works pretty good. But once another boat comes out, it's follow the shore and it's the same toilet bowl after a lap or two.

As we're in a surf thread, I'll just comment that any attempt to surf on this like would be ludicrous. Too small of lake and all the 98% of the docks are float based. Chaos would ensue.